Is Rich Rostrum riffing on Conan-Doyle. Holmes bribes a guttersnipe for info in “Sign of Four” by offering the kid a shilling. So Holmes asks if there is anything the young street Arab wants more than a shilling and the answer comes back, “Two Shillings”. Holmes of course obliges and the case is brought to a conclusion.

NickM: the boy is no guttersnipe – he’s the child of Mr. and Mrs. Mordecai Smith. Mrs. Smith was giving him a bath when Holmes and Watson came by. Two shillings was a lot of money to give a six-year-old child – about equal to ten pounds today.

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